Sober Camino: Inspiration from Mekka

Sunday, 2 September 2012

Inspiration from Mekka

One of my sources of inspiration I've just been reading is: Pelgrimstocht naar Mekka (Zu den heiligen Quellen des Islam. Als pilger nach Mekka und Medina). Lovely book by Ilija Trojanow.

It's got to do with my intention with this blog. The Dutch society for St. James published in their latest newsletter an overview of publications about the Camino. In Dutch alone, there are already 40! Most of them quite personal stories. I'm trying to have another mixture.
So Sober Camino, this blog, is intented more in the tradition of how the Hadj is described (of course, dear reader, I'm not comparing Camino and Hadj - those are different worlds). But it's interesting what Trojanow writes about the travel stories: 'Islamic writers don't put their own feeling on the foreground, their own moods are rarely leading. A travelling story in which the physical health and the psyche or soul of the writer are central, is a rather new western phenomenon that highly contributes to the discredit of the travelling story genre.'
A conclusion I can surely live with.

About the islam and the hadj

In Trojanow's book I couldn't discover how far the pilgrims actually have to walk. There are many rituals, and they stay in Saudi Arabia for many, many weeks.

There are a lot of gifts for the pilgrims, like free food, which used to be a habit on the Camino to. One of the monasteries along the Camino had these two shelters where they put food and drinks for the pilgrims passing by.

Pilgrims, Trojanow writes, can live without compromise, which you cannot do in ordinary life. The pilgrim gets an idea of how a perfect religious life could be like, it is simple, ordened, pure, with a purpose. Some people do pick up a different lifestyle after the hadj, the majority steps into normal life again, with the hadj as a beautiful memory of a happy, spiritual holiday.

In the islam Mekka is the most holy city. The sacred Kaaba was built on holy ground, that was already worshipped in pre-islamic times. The Kaaba was built by Ibrahim, ordered by God, the Koran tells us. The virgin Maria and Venus were also worshipped there, once.. so religions vividly mixed up. It is so holy that birds can't fly over it, it is said.

Beauty leads to religious contemplation, Trojanow writes. That is what you can experience during the Camino to, the peaceful churches invite you to sit and muse about life, faith, whatever is important for you at that moment.

Interesting difference with Christianity: in the islamic world there is hardly any place for hermits who want to live apart from the world, there are no monks or monasteries either.

Trojanow goes back home, and found out a way in which he could make this beloved trip once again: by writing this book. And so we can end with me: that's why you're reading this blog right now...

Learning from other cultures. I'm trying to.

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Sober Camino

Imagine a country with so much heritage that even some of the churches are in ruin. España.

Since I walked the Camino Frances I can say: the outside, the image, the picture, the encounters with so many different people, the landscape; it's fabulous. About the inside you may have different thoughts. The sober character a way like the Camino should have in my opinion is under pressure, for various reasons.

We live in 2025, and everything seems within reach to anyone. The world as a village, a hollywood, a... So is the Camino. I love to write about the sunny side. It really is a great and mostly joyful experience. So pack'n go! But there's a shadowside that I'll point out to.

I didn't write a blog while walking the road. Gives an energy leak. It was better for me to come home first and then quietly write all this. Just made notes for some of the impressions in Spain already, and made a lot of photo's suitable for the blog.

Two kinds of stories here: impressions of my walks (see map below) in the left column, and comments and thoughts about the Camino itself in this right column.

The date above the article can be random sometimes, I want a certain order in it. But the travel impressions are related to my walks, sorted by date. ¿Me comprendes?

It is written in English, yes... because the Camino de Santiago is a world wide web. There is also a Dutch edition.

Released 5 nov. 2012, Groningen, the Netherlands

Go west!

How many times, when I was walking a part of the Camino where I could be sure it was old, I imagined that the sound of my stick on the pavement had been here for ages. That people walked this path a thousand years ago already. And even further back in time, there is word about Kelts travelling to Finisterre, far before that... Isn't that some heritage, isn't that something that leaves traces behind, in feeling, in energy...

Of course you can state that the Camino Frances is just another beautiful walking path. But that's not how it feels to me. There's something in the air, something happening when you walk. I think about the numerous hands of friendly villagers that showed me the right way. Or the times in a lonely forest, you're standing doubtfully on a crossroad, and then there is always this other pilgrim who knows where to go.
This early morning, still dark. A small village. A man passes by, breaks the silence with a sonore bass: "Buen camino, hombre." Moments that give you wings.
Walking uneasy with painful feet, worrying if you can go on. Then there is suddenly a newly opened nice cafe, for joyful moments of rest. It wasn't even on the map.

What I would do is

How to keep it uneasy, and clean, and sober

The Camino was a bit too easy, autumn 2012. Very nice weather, many nice terraces, good moods. It was becoming cosy: 'Hi, how are you, where are you from today?' Forgotten the harsh winds of the meseta, the burning sun before Logrono.
I was lucky enough to get my real camino after Santiago. On the way to Finisterre the ocean interfered and soaked me from hair to toes for two days. Ja! Great! Sure, I got an infection on my heel, had to wear sandals, nobody else around to straighten my raincape. Good! Real camino, good suffering, that's what we need! Other peregrinos felt the same. A man passing by in the pooring rain, in a t-shirt, was offering me his raincape...

Terrace in the sun, meeting friends, making photos, sounds like a Sunday's stroll, no? Luckily it's a .....end to Santiago, so blisters were the greatest blessing this year.
I went in September, in search for some loneliness. Forget it. Only if you kept on walking after three p.m. (most peregrinos in already, afraid of not getting a bed) you could be on your own. And, indeed, after Santiago. But how to have a sort of pilgrim's feeling if you walk, well, in a row? Standing in a queue at the pilgrim's office for your credential. No sitting place in the cathedral. No more touching the foot of Jacob, because there's a fence around it! Aje aje camino frances.... are you becoming a sort of walking highway: boring, busy, traffic jammed, polluted, predictable, safe as a rock...

Where is the camino itself?

The path itself. A lot of older parts of the way have disappeared. Please stop destroying it! Why cover a centuries old path under new stone? New stone that is often too steep, with steps too big for a backpack... And why all these shortcuts? Why all these kilometers along highways?